Panthera



"What's new pussy cat?"

- Tom Jones

History
Ever since Kit can remember she’s been something of a freak. She was born to an average human family and had two older brothers. She was born brunette and had beautiful baby blue eyes and whilst her elder brothers thought she was an ugly little creature her mother and father adored her. They lived in an apartment in Yuma, Arizona and in the first few years of her life everything was good for her. Her mother and father were caring and her brothers though they teased her they also loved her. Even then though in there happy home they’d heard talk of mutants something which Kit had expressed an interest in. To her they were fascinating, like something out of the storybooks her mother read to her on a night. Her brother Sky had no particular liking for them at all, he found them abominations and declared it loudly at the table one night where he was promptly sent to bed by their father who whilst not prejudiced did have a slight fear of these ‘mutants’

Life passed along as it always does and when she turned twelve she started to complain of headaches and that the lights were hurting her eyes. At first her parents simply assumed it must be something to do with her eyesight and that she may need glasses. However her vision was practically perfect and her parents and kit were sent home. It was her brother’s fifteenth birthday party when something first happened. She’d felt strange, not ill just strange and had ducked away from the celebrations and hid in the bathroom. For the first time she changed her form and when her father opened the door he was greeted by Kit in her full jaguar form, scared and vicious she mauled her father’s legs before running for freedom, smashing through the front door and out. When she eventually calmed down her form altered back though her eyes remained the same, and since then they always have. Scared and confused she called her home from a phone booth and when Dylan answered he went to find her after explaining dad was in hospital.

When he found her the first thing he saw were her eyes and initially freaked out before he gave her a very careful hug and lead her home. Her father came home in a wheelchair his legs severely crippled, he would never walk again. When Sky saw her he was the first to yell at her and call her ‘freak’. Kit was scared and afraid and cried whilst her family seemed to fall apart around her as the yelling began. In the end Sky walked out being a good few years older than her and Dylan. Her family decided to keep kit’s mutation a secret for as long as they could and whilst contact lenses did no good, they made her start to wear sunglasses most of the time. However in school she was told she had to take them off for gym that was how her school found out. There’d been looks of horror and disgust cast at her and from then on she was the class freak. ‘mutant’ was spray painted on the family car and the front wall of the house. In the end she couldn’t count how many times she’d been called a freak and had a harsh fist in her face or a slap.

Worried their parents took her out of school as her changes between forms was becoming more erratic. Out of school her changes seemed to become more stable, or at least Kit appeared to be getting better at controlling it. At sixteen she even started to venture out of the house again, but with sunglasses on. Life almost seemed to be back on track for Kit, she managed to find herself a human boyfriend and for a while there things could have been okay. Except when he pressured her a little too much and she panicked telling him to get off, which he did, but not before he pulled the glasses off. His face became a picture of disgust, something she remembered so well that it almost felt like a lash, ashamed and angry she slipped into her transient form the call of her primal emotions accessing it. It wasn’t pretty and her boyfriend gained a scarred face. From then on she was scared to leave the house as all the neighbours knew what she was and he local community tarnished their house once again painting ‘mutant’ on the car and outer walls of the house.

It was no surprise for kit when the mutant act came into force that she was taken. Her boyfriend was officially the one who ‘outer her’ but for Kit it was only a matter of time. What hurt her the most was her family’s reaction as they just said that perhaps it was ‘for the best’. She was tattooed and placed in the district, with no one left. She needed to learn how to control the changes, what she was and that’s what lead her to Xavier’s.

Personality
During Autumn’s childhood She became incredibly strong willed and stubborn and developed the habit of refusing to back down from those who treated her as dirt or those who treated her differently; in winters case this treatment usually came from her brothers who were generally more concerned about their survival than their sisters. Autumn even now remains determined and obstinate when in discussions especially when she thinks someone is treating her unfairly or is treating her differently or without the proper respect she feels she deserves from them. As a Mutant she has also learnt to listen and when to be quiet but once her mind is set swaying her opinion is very difficult.

She is not stupidly headstrong and she doesn’t believe herself to be better than anyone other mutant least, she just knows she has to fight to remain on the same standing because there’s no denying that mutants and humans are different and she hates the prejudice that has been enforced on mutants and therefore has formed a prejudice herself. At times she can sound slightly bitter or pessimistic but this isn’t usually the case. She’s tough when she has to be but likewise has a gentler side; just fewer people see that. Autumn has feelings the same as everyone else she just closes herself off from them in order to keep a cool head. Autumn sees her emotions as a weakness as feeling any amount of empathy for anything other than mutants shouldn’t be condoned in her mind. In this sense Autumn is admittedly responsible for speciesism as she places hers above all others. She isn’t stupid and even if every human was hunted down and exterminated then she knows the world wouldn’t revert to a utopia, it would simply be easier; at least in her eyes.

With people Autumn has never been much of a chatterbox and although she will enforce her opinions and make them clear she doesn’t normally start a conversation if she feels one is not needed or can be avoided. Words have little meaning, actions speak far louder. If need be a slight amount of violence can enforce her opinion or if it falls on cloth ears then that small amount of controlled violence may just make them wake up and listen.

Likes

 * Languages
 * Snow
 * Swimming
 * Diving
 * Milk
 * Oreos
 * Leather
 * Sunny days
 * Reading
 * Sunglasses
 * Cats
 * Different cultures
 * The stars
 * Climbing
 * Learning

Dislikes

 * Mutant haters
 * Bullies
 * Most humans
 * Being alone
 * Not being able to control her power
 * Rain
 * Baked beans
 * Pop music
 * Gym
 * Cockroaches
 * Her ‘M’ tattoo
 * Her family
 * District X
 * Oranges
 * Maple syrup

Skills
Being stuck at home meant Kit had little to do but study, she read countless fiction books, and has a weirdly accurate memory on fairy tales and the meanings behind them. For Kit homeschooling was decided by what Kit was interested in and not just academic requirements. So besides from learning mathematics and basic science skills, she learned practical applications suck as how to cook. As well as this kit had a great interest in languages and through tapes, and courses bought by he parents for her kit has learned to speak French, German, Spanish, and Russian aptly, to some extent she can speak and translate Arabic and Latin.

Powers
Kit’s mutant ability is similar to that of a lycanthrope wherein she has the ability to change her physical form by mental concentration. However whereas a lycanthrope has the ability to change to and from a wolf, Kit has the ability to change to and from a black jaguar.


 * Metamorph: Through mental concentration Kit can transform her physical form into that of a black jaguar, however when doing so she loses certain human cognitive abilities; her sense of morality fades and the longer she stays in her jaguar form the more her mind becomes that of an animal.


 * This ability allows her to change her physical form not just from human to black jaguar and back but into a third form which combines both her human and jaguar characteristics. In this hybrid form her body becomes covered in the black fur of a jaguar, her tail sprouts, her hair lengthens as do her nails and teeth. The bones in her jaw shift and mutate to enable the powerful bite of a jungle cat.


 * As well as the physical changes to her form Kit retains a series of mutant abilities some of which are present in each form she takes.


 * Speed: Whilst in her hybrid and jaguar form she can run faster than any average human her speed maxing at the average speed of a jaguar 35mph.


 * Enhanced Agility: In human, hybrid and jaguar form Kit’s grace and agility is mutated beyond that of an average human and is similar to that of a jaguar.


 * Enhanced Reflexes: Kit’s reflexes are sharp in her human form but not ‘superhuman’. In hybrid and animal form her reflexes are as sharp as the average black jaguars.


 * Hyper-Keen, Superhuman Senses: in human and hybrid form her sense are enhanced beyond that of a human similar to and slightly greater than a jaguar.


 * Razor Sharp Claws And Teeth: in her hybrid form Kit’s nails transform into claws and her teeth become stronger and sharper. Both claws and teeth are capable of cutting through flesh and bone.


 * Strength: In hybrid form kit becomes stronger than an average human her strength levels increasing and matching that of a jaguar that is capable of bringing down 660lb prey.

Weaknesses
In her human form Kit lacks physical strength and agility and is an easy opponent to overpower. In all of her states she is to a degree vulnerable, to attacks both mental and physical and has no particular powers to help her heal. She lacks fighting skills and is only dangerous when in her full black jaguar or jaguar-human form.

Metamorph: Kit’s ability to transform to and from a jaguar is not based in the ‘supernatural’ and has nothing to do with phases of the moon or other ‘were-creature’ attributes. She is not invincible in any form not is she only susceptible to ‘silver bullets’ She is vulnerable in each form to anything humans and jaguars are vulnerable to. She’s mortal, shoot her, stab her, poison her etc and there’s more than a strong chance she won’t survive without medical assistance.

Strength: In her human form she is just as strong as your average teenager, she can be overpowered easily with little struggle.

Fighting Skills: In short she has none. In her hybrid form she is some threat if only because of her teeth and claws, in her human form Kit is just an average teenager. She has no fighting skills and has never been trained in either martial arts or with weaponry

Medical Skills: Again kit has none of these other than general common sense; you cut your finger you put a plaster on it. She’s no medical genius or doctor. She gets ill or hurt she goes to hospital or a surgery just the same as any human would.

Stubborn: Autumn’s stubbornness can also be seen as a weakness as it can make her blind to more rational or helpful ideas.

Hatred of Humans: Her pure hatred of all things human is something of a weakness she sees them as almost lower beings, like animals they need to be hunted down and stopped, then maybe finally the world could return to how it should be just wiser.