Post by shadowcat on Dec 12, 2009 10:33:21 GMT 10
::KITTY PRYDE::
Name: Katherine Anne Pryde
Codename: Shadowcat
Affiliation: X-Men
Age: sixteen
Physical Appearance: Although she thinks of herself as a plain Jane, the brunette does have a few distinguishing features. The most obvious would most likely be her eyes which are both quite large and cat-like, which would explain the origin of her nickname. Unlike the other X-Men, Kitty is still very young and so she often stands out from the others, looking like easy prey to the enemy. However, this usually helps her, making her opponents underestimate her just because of her young age and small stature. Despite these things, though, Kitty still isn't some statuesque beauty with a large bust, endless legs, defined cheekbones, or anything of the sort. Miss Pryde is a petite, hazel eyed teen whose real distinguishing features lay in her spirit and her heart.
Strengths: An optimist by nature Kitty can always be counted on to find the good in almost anything. She’s got a knack for finding that shred of hope in and clinging to it like her life depends on it. No matter how bleak everything can seem she’s finds something good about it. Your brother just died in some freak accident? Well the good news is you don’t have to look at his ugly mug. No, she wouldn’t really say that. She’d come up with something more consoling than that though she probably would have thought that last bit. Probably Kitty would remind you of all the good times you and your brother had together and how you’d see him after you die. She can even find something good to say about most people, she just doesn’t always choose to say those good things about them. If given the chance she could probably find something nice to say about her worst enemy, but more than likely she’d prefer not to focus more on how much she hates them than the redeeming qualities they might have.
Despite the way it may seem at times she generally has good intentions. Okay, obviously when she’s pushing people’s buttons that’s not very well-intentioned, but when she’s not doing that then she always means well. When she isn’t in an ornery mood then she actually gets a get deal of satisfaction out of helping other people with whatever they need help with. See, she likes to see a little more happiness in the world and a smile plastered on their faces. This can be seen in times like when it was one of her closest friend’s birthdays and Kitty, aged nine, decided to bake a cake for them. However she ended up burning the cake so badly that her oven nearly caught fire and all the smoke alarms in her house were going off. But her thoughts were in the right place, the execution was just a little sloppy. Or rather, clumsy as is typical of her. Stuff like that happens often (though not as often involving fire and severely burnt cakes) in which she tries to do good and ends up messing it up somehow. It’s just one of those endearing qualities about her that make you want to give her a big hug after she screws up and is upset over it.
Part of the fact that things never seem to go her way could be that she seems to be a magnet for trouble. Even when she isn’t looking for it trouble seems to creep up on her and envelopes her. Perhaps because of her inquisitive nature that can’t be suppressed and a thirst for adventure trouble inevitably finding her can only be anticipated. Of course, some of the time she does go seeking out trouble simply for amusement. But if someone goes looking for trouble half the time then it might only be expected that trouble comes and finds them when they aren’t chasing it. Plus with a mouth and an attitude like hers Kitty seems to only stir up more trouble where there was previously none. Ah well, at least it’s always a rush to try and wiggle out of a sticky situation so she really can’t complain. What kind of life would she have without her oldest and best friend mischief after all? Things would be rather dull without at least a little of it in her life. Lucky for her in this day and age there’s plenty of trouble to be had for anyone who so much as steps out their front door. Besides, adversity builds character, no?
Though she does a lot of things that would suggest otherwise in that chest of hers beats a heart made of gold. Well, perhaps not gold, but almost gold, like a copper-ish color maybe. The point is that this is the place from which all those aforementioned good intentions come from. Kitty is truly a caring person underneath it all; just she’s not always sure how to express these sorts of feelings. Definitely she has gotten better at this in her lifetime though. For the most part she’s able to show people her softer side though a few instances have arisen in which she found herself not sure how to go about it. But really she’s the kind of person who if they saw a couple of puppies on the sidewalk she’d take them all home and love them. Yes, really buried underneath everything she’s a big old softie. When someone asks for her help she has a hard time refusing them no matter how much to she wants to. Of course, generally she doesn’t want to not help people every other minute because she does have a life, but she probably couldn’t even tell her worst enemy no if they came to her on their knees. Well, maybe she could say no to her worst enemy. But her compassion is more than likely a problem She just can’t think of a possible way to amend it and she really does like to see the joy in people’s expressions after she’s done good for someone.
As loud people generally are she’s a very social person. Yes, she does like her solitude from time to time, but for the most part she’d rather be with people whose company she enjoys. Kitty is the type of person who could probably make a friend wherever she went even if it meant the person was only her friend because she’d followed them around talking to them until they finally gave in and couldn’t help but find her amusing at the very least. Humans are social creatures after all hence why towns and cities were formed. Yes, Kitty thoroughly enjoys meeting new people and talking to them and making friends and all that jazz. New people are fun and interesting and full of things that she could learn from them. Why would she not want to meet all of them that she could? She has no problem with walking up to a total stranger and striking up a conversation with them. Taking initiative and shyness have never been problems for her which probably works in her favour.
Once she feels as though she can call a person her friend they’re in for a treat. Well, some of the time they’ll wish they’d never met her probably, but the utter loyalty that she gives to people that she cares for is more than enough pay-off for having to put up with all of her shit. They are the ones who get lavished with the love and affection. Messing with her friends is like messing with Kitty herself only probably a thousand times stupider. See it’s bad enough when you screw with her, but like most people when you screw with the people she holds dearly there’s gonna be a price. It just so happens that she sent a couple of her friend’s ex-boyfriends to the hospital wing after they decided they’d be funny and hurt her friends. As she befriended anyone and everyone she often had little first year buddies that would run to her when they were getting picked on by older kids and she’d deal with the bullies. It was a well-known fact that you didn’t mess with people that she cared about because she was not one to take it lightly. Her friends don’t even have to ask her to come to their rescue though, she’s more than happy to do so without being asked or even when she’s been told not to interfere. Hey, she’s a little overbearing, but she just wants to prove her devotion to those she cherishes and make sure no harm ever comes to them.
The thing people need to realize about her is that logic plays a very little part in her life, despite what one might think due to her immense intelligence. She doesn’t think things through most of the time when it comes to real life situations. Just because the laws of physics say that she can’t do something doesn’t mean that she won’t still try it. And anyway, it’s kind of easy for a phaser to defy them. If she gets an idea in her head and people advise her against it she’ll still try to do it anyway. Impossible is not a word that she’s familiar with. When making a decision she certainly isn’t one to sit there and weigh the pros and cons. Instead she goes with the first idea that pops into that head of hers. She has her opinions and her thoughts and it doesn’t matter if they disagree with every law of the universe because they’re hers and therefore she believes them and consequentially because they are hers they must be right. You can disprove her theories about everything in the world a trillion times and she’ll still stand by them. Kitty’s never cared about what other people say or do, when she’s decided on something it is absolutely that way and there’s no swaying her. Facts are meaningless to her because she’s knows what she knows and she wouldn’t be at all concerned if she was the only person in the universe who agreed with her thoughts or could even follow them. It makes sense in her mind. Some people might call the fact that she’s willing to stand by her opinions through anything bravery. It is not debatable that she possess this quality, it’s of absolute certainty. However being brave doesn’t mean that she’s not ever afraid because that’s ridiculous. Everyone is afraid at one point in their life of something. Kitty has been afraid in her life; she’s still gets scared even at this point in her life. But having courage means never letting that fear show, it’s doing what you have to in the face of that fear. True valour can only be seen when a person is truly afraid, sure, there are glimpses of bravery when a person isn’t afraid, but that’s mostly just for show. False bravery, Kitty calls it. She’s got an abundance of that as well, but she’d like to think that she possess some of the real kind too. Most people she associates with would agree with that statement too. She draws on her optimism to give her that courage and takes comfort in knowing that she’s doing something good for the world. It’s what keeps her from backing down and running and hiding away from everything. Besides, she knows there are few people in the world that are willing to take the stand that she is and quitting would be a crime.
Always she has been one to tell it like it is. Kitty doesn’t need fancy words (though she knows quite a few and they do occasionally slip the in) to get her point across. She believes that people can identify more with simple words and therefore they have more power. Like her father she may not be the most articulate thing on the face of the planet but when the occasion calls for it she can make those simple words carry more weight than anyone thought possible. But when she talks she spares no one’s feelings, she doesn’t leave out the uncomfortable details, she doesn’t try to dress things up to make them nicer and easier to cope with. Essentially she fails to see the point in censorship. It’s the truth, why hide from it? You have to face it eventually. She’s blunt, no other way to put it. The words form in her head and seconds later they’re spilling from her mouth. It’s definitely caused problems for her before when she’s flinging hard truths into people’s faces and they don’t want to face them, but she could care less. If she was in denial of something she would want people to make her face it. The world would be a better place if everyone was more frank like she was, at least in her opinion. At times her bluntness is more like unnecessary rudeness, but it's only with people who deserve it. She can be a downright bitch to the people she hates. Unfortunately she is one of those people who is ruled by emotion. She’s always the one to follow her heart and unfortunately because of that she’s moody as they come. See her mother always frowned upon open displays of emotion viewing them as weakness and interference so she’s never tried to keep her feelings in check. When she’s happy, she lets the world know, when she’s angry, everyone around her can feel it, and when she’s upset you can tell by that look in her eyes. However even she does have her limits and puts her foot down when it comes to crying. It’s acceptable for other people to cry in public but Kitty refuses to do so. In fact the young woman hasn’t cried since she was eleven…. She knows it must mean something awful. She’s stronger than that, not that she views the people who cry as weak, it would just be weak if she was doing it. The whole live by your emotions thing doesn’t always turn out so well for her; many people can’t handle all her ups and downs. Her emotions are frequently extreme so she’s either very happy or very pissed or very upset, she doesn’t often settle in a happy medium. But whatever, that’s her and it makes everything more alive, life’s for living and you’re only living it fully if you feel alive, which she always does.
Weaknesses: No matter to what degree a person is acquainted with Kitty, whether they hate her or love her or really could care less about her there’s one thing they could probably use to describe her: loud. Calling her vocal would be the polite way to put it. If Kitty was describing herself she would probably say something along the lines of “loud as fuck”. Certainly she is quite loud too. It doesn’t matter where she is or what she’s talking about or who she’s with she only seems to have one volume: loud enough so that the people across the room can hear her but not quite loud enough that she’s screaming. Okay, well, that’s not entirely true, she actually has two volumes: normal voice and the one she reserves for screaming matches. Yup, she only gets louder much to the dismay of the people who know her. Unfortunately this is the reason that people tend not to disclose private information to her in places where she could easily be overheard with that voice of hers. Her friends learned that one fast. Now this volume problem can sometimes be more than just a tad annoying for the people that she hangs around. In fact, most of the people she knows would even admit that at times she can be very obnoxious. It’s not just the fact that she’s loud though, it’s also the fact that she’s constantly running that mouth of hers. Oh yes, Kitty has an opinion about everything and is far from being afraid of voicing it to whoever’s nearest which can get a little old when she simply will not shut up. But that aside she also has a little problem that’s completely unrelated to the excessive loudness of her talking voice or anything to do with her voice.
See she’s spent her entire life pushing people’s buttons. That seemed to transfer over to the rest of her life and has almost become a hobby of hers. Now she doesn’t do it all the time, but at least a good once a week she gets this urge to piss someone off. Why? Because it’s amusing for her. Sure, she doesn’t think it’s funny when she’s pissed off but when other people are it’s hilarious. There are very few people who are safe when she gets those urges. Not even her best friends or people she should be afraid are exempt from it. She learns what really gets to a person and then does everything in her power to exploit these little things that make them mad. Now sometimes she knows when to quit, but most of the time Kitty doesn’t know when to stop and keeps irritating people to the point that they blow up on her leaving her cackling about the whole thing. It certainly is a habit that has driven people away in the past and yet she persists in it.
Now she herself has little tolerance for people who play the same button-pushing games that she does. In fact anyone who’s at it for too long will probably receive a slap in the face or a knee to the balls. Hypocrite much? Sure, you could probably say that, but just not to Kitty because you would probably get slapped too. She’s never been the best at staying calm; no she just gets pissed and attacks the source of it. It’s an undesirable trait yet she’d be a terrible liar if she denied it. She doesn’t try to deny it though. She knows that she’s quick to take offense. Actually most people would probably say she is overly sensitive perceiving things they didn’t intend to be insults as insults. She’s never exactly bothered to attempt to reign in her temper either. It’s just one of her flaws and she could care less that she has a nasty temper. It’s part of who she is and people can accept it or not. That’s her policy of self-contentment. Kitty lives by that. After all, where is the point in hating yourself? You only make yourself miserable by doing that and the last thing this world needs is more depressed people. Or at least that’s her take on it. She’s willing to accept the fact that she’s full up to the brim with flaws and probably has few redeeming qualities and she manages to be okay with that. It makes her wonder how good people, the ones who are so incredibly pure that it’s almost unbelievable, the ones that never utter a bad word about anyone, the ones who are always helping other can’t then accept themselves. Obviously you’re the way you are for a reason because if there wasn’t a reason then you would be somebody else. So what’s the point in being all self-loathing? Yes, people do bad things, she’s done more than her fair share of bad things in her life, but if you aren’t willing to first grant yourself forgiveness it’s likely that no one else will either. Now she’s not saying that someone should be able to kill someone and walk away with a clean conscious, but she does think that people should be more tolerant of their own mistakes and beat themselves up over it all less. If people didn’t have flaws they’d hardly be human. Everyone has their faults no matter how perfect they may seem.
Powers: She has the ability to pass through solid matter by altering the vibratory rates of her atoms: passing her atoms through the spaces between the atoms of the object through which she is moving. In this way she and the object through which she is passing can temporarily merge without interacting, and each is unharmed when she has finished passing through the object. This process is called phasing, and it renders her almost completely intangible to physical touch. Kitty passes through objects at the same speed at which she is moving before she "enters" them. When Kitty phases through an electronic machine, her powers usually cause it to malfunction or be destroyed. The use of her abilities also interferes with any electrical systems (including, in some stories, the bio-electric systems of the human body), as she passes through by disrupting the flow of electrons from atom to atom. Kitty can also extend her powers to phase other people and objects. Currently, she is able to phase up to a dozen other people with her, so long as they establish and maintain physical contact with her. She can extend her phasing effect to her own clothing or any other object with mass up to that of a small aircraft, as long as she remains in contact with it. She has trained herself to go automatically, by reflex, into a phasing state at any indication of danger, such as a loud noise like a gunshot, in order to protect herself.
Other Skills: high IQ, knowledgeable in all things computer-related, and an excellent ballerina
History: Katherine Anne Pryde was born on the fifth of July, 1991 at half past noon on a Monday in Deerfield, Illinois. She was born several weeks early, an especially small newborn with big brown eyes and tight brown curls on her head. She is the daughter of Carmen and Theresa Pryde, a newlywed couple at the time, who met in college while they both studied dentistry. The young family wasn't all that special or interesting. Yes, Carmen's father was held in Auschwitz as a prisoner during the Second World War but that isn't exactly something you bring up at a dinner party. Samuel Prydeman is still live today in fact, though the man is nearing his eighties and is stuck in a wheelchair. Nearly the entire family on both sides is still alive, with their many quirky personality traits, the kind usually only found on sitcoms, but to their neighbours they are only another family in suburbia. All families have secrets. The Pryde family's secrets are just a lot bigger.
What resulted as Katherine was supposed to be a mid afternoon quickie between two particularly over eager newlyweds on their honeymoon. You see, Theresa was told by her gynecologist that she wasn't able to have children. As it turned out, this doctor had mixed up his patients' files that previous weekend. It's safe to say the mother to be switched OBGYNs immediately upon her return to the States. The pregnancy was a surprise to say the least but the couple didn't want to be seen as two clueless young adults who got married because of an unwanted pregnancy, so they simply took it as a sign from God. They were both Jewish which thrilled their respective parents. Sure the both of them had never been out of Illinois except for their trip to Hawaii for their honeymoon and they were both only twenty five years old, but they had a lot of love for one another and had pretty optimistic hopes and dreams. After taking out a heavy loan, the couple went directly from college to the suburbs where they had grown up. The pregnancy went smoothly. It was fairly stressful, especially for Carmen who was a terrible worrywart. She was constantly calling her doctor about what she could do or not do. Luckily for her doctor, she had help living nearby. The rest of the family lived only a few streets over and so they were always there to answer any questions she or Carmen had.
Theresa spent her pregnancy with family while Carmen worked as a dentist a town over. Without her husband to entertain her and do her errands, she had her brother running around fetching her pickles and tuna at three in the morning. If she had let them, her in-laws would have surely taken over the raising of her future baby. This was what triggered her return to her home. Theresa only had a month, which she spent knitting like a maniac and buying ever baby book she could find, before she went into labour. Who knew that child would end up being a more evolved human being with physics-defying powers and save the world a couple dozen times? No, for now, she was just her parents' sweet little Katie.
Kitty's childhood was uncomplicated and undramatic in nearly every way. She lived in the suburbs, and the only time when she left was for the yearly camping trip she took with her parents. While her mother and father left for work in the mornings, Kitty would spend the day with her grandmother and grandfather. She learned a lot from them both - more than she learned from her parents anyhow. It was her grandfather who had the most effect on her though, telling her stories of World War II and his time in the concentration camp Auschwitz.
By the time Kitty grew to be thirteen years old, she began to have painful headaches which kept growing more painful and more intense. At school, Kitty was struggling. She could hardly pay attention for even one day out of the year and her teachers had no idea as to what they were to do with her. Just as she was on the verge of being kicked out, to her parents' disappointment, the Pryde's were contacted by not one but two private schools - the School for Gifted Youngsters in Westchester, New York, and the Massachusetts Academy. Her parents thought that the sudden attention was because of the tests Kitty took only a week before. She was more than gifted. She was beyond genius actually. She had an IQ higher than Albert Einstein even. It was pretty unbelievable to her teachers but it wasn't completely unreal, considering her father's and grandfather's bright minds. When the time came for the headmistress Emma Frost to come for a visit in Deerfield was the time when Kitty's mutation kicked in. While her parents were in the living room speaking with the scantily clad blonde, Kitty was sitting on her bed, having one of her worst headaches ever. The next thing she knew, she had phased through her bedroom floor.
Once the young Miss Frost had left, none other than Professor Xavier, Storm, and Colossus arrived to take her to the local malt shop. There, Kitty began to form a close friendship with Storm. Thirty minutes in, three Hellfire mercenaries interrupted and began to attack. Scared, Kitty phased through the back wall, only to fall unconscious because of her inexperience. Overpowering the X-Men with her telepathy, Emma Frost had them taken into the Hellfire hovercraft, leaving Kitty behind. Determined, the X-Man-to-be crept into the hovercraft undetected, eventually discovering that her new friends had been taken captive. She hid until they landed and used her new found power to sneak through the Frost Industries Complex which they were hidden in. After finding them, Storm gave her the X-Men's phone number. Although she was uncovered and nearly captured by Emma Frost and her henchmen, Kitty got away long enough to call and get help.
After the incident, Kitty was allowed by her parents to attend the Professor's school in New York, and so she left home to do so. For a little while, she was taking advanced calculus and physics courses, as well as working on her mutant power in the Danger Room. Nearly a week after her arrival, Logan and Rogue arrived at the mansion. Over the next little while, she became friends with Bobby Drake, a cyrokinetic. She, along with a few others, became junior X-Men shortly after Logan left. Her first big mission was quite unexpected to say the least. It was the middle of the night and a group of heavily armed men began to invade the mansion. It was up to a small group of them to get everyone out safe and sound, but a few of the younger students were captured. Fortunately, with the help of the other X-Men, the other students were saved. Unfortunately, Jean Grey was killed saving them that same day, tearing apart the team.
Months later, the cure was publicized. To Kitty's surprise, there were many mutants who went to receive it. She understood of course that it was difficult being a mutant but she had never thought anyone would give up like that. When Professor Xavier was killed, Kitty was particularly effected. She was able to find some comfort in Bobby but felt absolutely awful when it caused Rogue to believe there was something going on between them. Alcatraz island is her first real mission and quite honestly, she doesn't take that big a part, but Kitty did save Jimmy, the boy who was the very origin of the cure, from the infamous Jughead. Along with Alcatraz, Jean Grey was also lost that night. Three years passed. Storm has been in charge of the school for some time and Kitty is now an official member of the team - not just a junior X-Man. Since Alcatraz she has finished her studies, gotten her Ph.D in computer science, and despite her age, she has seen a great deal since her arrival at the institute.
Sample RP: Susan had always been a morning person. She loved mornings. She was one of those people with an A type personality. She needed to be in control, she hated surprises, and she was one of the hardest working people in all of England. She had been since she was a young girl. Part of it was simply in her genetics and the other trained into her by her aunt. Susan wanted structure, in all things in fact. She need it actually. Every morning at specifically five in the morning. the long haired brunette would wake up, go for a jog as the sun came up, showered, prepared breakfast, occasionally had some, got dressed and left for work. This was her routine and without it, she would be a complete mess forgetting things left and right. Keeping a routine and sticking to it was how Susan prepared herself mentally for the day and these days, how she kept herself from stressing herself out and having a panic attack from being sent back two centuries. It was a very difficult thing to do and frankly, Susan was absolutely mystified as to how anyone else was keeping themselves from freaking out. Not only were they all stuck in the past but no one seemed to have realized what the consequences would be of their meddling. Would the future be the same? Would Harry Potter still win the war and kill Voldemort? The many possibilities were swirling in her mind like a torpedo, keeping her from noticing anything else. She had spent the day looking for a job since her and Cedric's bank accounts didn't yet exist and they certainly didn't still have their jobs. She had found one too, after many hours spent searching. Susan Diggory was now working as an assistant to the librarian at the nearest wizards' library, Yes, she went from nearly promoted to a magical law adviser to library assistant. Splendid.
It was late evening by the time Susan neared the Leaky Cauldron she wasn't sure what the time was exactly since she didn't have a watch on her. Anyway, Susan thought to herself, it wouldn't have gone with the dress. She smiled to herself and silently thanked a passing wizard who held the door to the bar open for her. Once having entered, the young witch felt a wave of familiarity wash over her almost immediately. It was strange to imagine that the famous pub looked and smelled exactly the same as it would in the future, although a little more smelly. She felt several heavy burdens weighing down on her but somehow, the comfort of knowing that not all was lost lightened the load. Susan wasn't sure why she was so terribly homesick but she didn't allow herself one moment to think about it. She had several things to worry about before she could ponder the meaning behind why she missed a time and place which hurt her so. That was at the very bottom of her to do list. Trying her best to hold her breath discretely with the poisonous clouds of tobacco filled the large room. It stank of unwashed men, causing nausea to stir in her belly. Susan was able to make her way to the staircase with no more eyes on her than that morning. It would seem as if nicely dressed young ladies didn't often frequent the Leaky Cauldron and they especially didn't live in the pub's accommodations. Three times already she was asked to go sleep with a man for money. Maybe her homesickness wasn't that complex after all... She was generally quite graceful but bone crushing corsets and heavy skirts were making it difficult for her. Once she had miraculously made it to the second floor without tripping over her long gown. Susan was able to breathe out in relief before entering her and Cedric's room. It was plain but surprisingly clean. The one thing the small room needed was a chest of drawers or maybe a real bathroom. It didn't matter to Susan though. It wasn't as if her or Cedric had much clothing. Luckily, the both of them had their money pouches on them when they were transported back in time but they were able to get only a few necessities since they had to keep the rest for lodging and food. Susan didn't know how much longer they would be stuck in 1800, but she hoped it wouldn't be long. All of a sudden she had to deal with the man who ordered her family dead, a new (although technically they were much older) clan of Death Eaters, and a family she never had. It was just a bit much, that was all. Susan was excellent at managing her stress and anger but she could already feel her control slipping from her grasp. As if she didn't have enough problems.
Susan wasn't in any kind of mortal danger or anything of the sort but she was still trying to handle her other problems. Well, there was only really one problem that had her nerves in a bundle.
The green eyed beauty entered the room carefully and only slipped her small feel out of her heels after having closed the door behind her. She had developed a slight paranoia when it came to the security of her home. No, the room in the Leaky Cauldron but for now, it was. Maybe it wasn't necessary but she knew too many people who killed in their homes. In Susan's mind, there wasn't any worry of being too cautious. With a quick sweep of the room, she knew her husband was out. Probably out buying something, she thought to herself. After placing extra strong defensive spells on all of the exits, Susan was finally able to relax. With an exaggerated sigh, she fell back onto the cozy queen size bed her and Cedric had been sleeping on. The covers made her skin itch but it was really her dress which bothered her. In all fairness it was a beautiful garment made of rich purples which made her pale skin glow, the soft candle light gently caressing her elegant features. Susan almost felt like a princess, minus the grungy pub. It was silly and the thought left her quickly. She had things she had to sort out. The twenty year old shut her eyes as tightly as she could muster, as if the problem could be wished away. Susan knew it wouldn't be that simple. She had joined the Order of the Phoenix, the group she had promised Cedric not to join. He wanted her to be safe and she understood. The problem was that he wouldn't understand. At least, that was what Susan believed. What she wasn't aware of was that he knew – he knew her dirty secret and she had no idea. Her excuses differed every time. One day she was 'going to the store for some eggs' and the next she was 'visiting Hannah'. The truth was Susan had been an active member of the Order of the Phoenix since the month of September following the Battle of Hogwarts. It hurt her to lie to the man she loved; she hurt for hurting him. Every so often she would feel the urge to tell Cedric everything. Every time, she stopped herself.
Susan whimpered at the increasing pressure that her corset caused. She was a coward and she knew it. She didn't want Cedric angry with her and it filled her with shame. She shifted uncomfortably, resting her head on one of the pillows and turned on her side. She tried to adjust and make it more comfortable, but she could go on lying to Cedric. Susan's primary role in the Order was speaking with Ministry officials and other wizards of high importance, but she was also often taking shifts as a bodyguard of sorts. She had gotten in a couple of battles since joining but she never got anything more serious than a few cuts and scrapes. The danger wasn't the problem. Yes, Cedric might think so... Why else would he have insisted that she not join the Order? Susan gazed sadly into her pillow, her features sharpened with frustration as she tried to undo her dress. She reached around her back but the tips of her slender fingers only just grazed the bindings which held her corset wound so tightly. Fed up, she buried her face in her hands and brought her knees up to her chest. Something had to be done. The newlywed played with her hair as she mulled it over for a few more moments. Yes, she was decided. As soon as Cedric returned, Susan would sit him down and tell him the truth. The Whole truth. She couldn't continue lying to him or it would certainly threaten to eat up her insides. Hufflepuffs weren't mean to be liars. That was probably why they were so bad at it. Just as Susan finished peeling off her stockings, the sound of the doorknob turning reached her ear. The door proceeded to swing open. Cedric. A warm smile instantly replaced her more tortured expression. She sat up against the headboard with grace and the pain from her corset sprung back into her mind. "Hey Ced," she cooed sweetly, both worried and relieved. "I need to talk to you about something but first, could you get me out of this death trap of a dress? I can't reach whatever is keeping it in place and if I keep it on any longer, I'm worried organs might start moving around, doing things they shouldn't be doing." Susan smiled slightly, trying to make a breath last longer than a few seconds. She slowly made her way to the end of the bed and slowly got to her feet, pressing her stomach with the palm of her hand. Susan quickly discovered that she had gotten up too quickly with not enough air in her brain, as she immediately lost her footing and swayed slightly, trying to balance herself. She would tell him but first she needed to breathe freely first. At least she would be ridding herself of two nuisances in one night. What she wanted to know was if she and Cedric would survive it. Things would change – that much she knew. Whatever happened, Susan knew that she would do everything her power to make things right. She just hoped that he would feel the same way. The tall, graceful, and sarcastic young witch was in no way done with Cedric Diggory. In fact, she didn't think she ever would be.