Dreamweaver

Dreamweaver
Player: @heartstringsk3
"I believe you can get me through the night..."
Biographical Data
Real Name:	Kaitlyn April May
Known Aliases:	Dream, Dreamy
Gender:	Female
Species:	Human
Ethnicity:	Caucasian
Place of Birth:	Michigan
Base of Operations:	Millennium City, MI
Relatives:	Matthew May - Father, Pamela May - Mother (Deceased)
Characteristics
Age:	22
Height:	5'2"
Weight:	~110 lbs.
Eyes:	Light Blue
Hair:	Blue (dyed), Blonde (natural)
Complexion:	Milky
Physical Build:	Curvy
Physical Features:	Light scarring over legs
Status
Fame:	██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ Unknown
Alignment:	LG LN LE NG TN NE CG CN CE
Identity:	Secret
Years Active:	<1
Citizenship:	US Citizen
Occupation:	Unemployed
Education:	College Drop-out
Marital Status:	Single
Known Powers and Abilities
Psionic/Empathic Powers
Equipment and Paraphernalia
Earpiece Radio, Wheelchair, Armor

Physical Attributes
	Strength			Weapon
	Durability			Armor
	Speed			Reflexes
	Resistance			Stamina
	Dexterity			Agility
	Combat			Regen

Non-Physical Attributes
	Energy			Psionics
	Telepathy			Willpower
	Sorcery			Tech.
	Intel.			Knowledge
	Charisma			Bravery
MaekadaBoxSlim created by @Maekada

Personal

Background

Kaitlyn May had a fairly easy life, initially. Her parents were both very loving and reasonably wealthy, and she was well-provided for. This, of course, could not stand. Kaitlyn began rebelling against her parents at roughly fifteen. It started simple - dating a boy (or girl) her parents didn't approve of, arguments, parties, pranks. Then, she learned the art of underage drinking. As soon as she could get her learner's permit, she became a total party girl, doing anything she wanted as her parents tried to stop her. She was well on her way to ruining her life by nineteen - had been for nearly five years, already. Unfortunately, what was meant to be an actually-peaceful day of driving her mother to and from a doctor's appointment turned tragic when a drunk driver crashed into the passenger side of her car, killing her mother on impact. The force slammed her hard into a passing chemical truck belonging to Mind, Inc, the front for PSI experiments. Whatever was in that truck altered Kaitlyn. The girl didn't wake up for more than a week.

When Kaitlyn finally did awaken, she seemed fine, for about eight seconds. Her empathic powers had developed in her sleep, and now, conscious, unable to control her new abilities, she felt the emotions of nearly every person in the hospital - all the pain, panic, sadness, and anger. It overwhelmed her; she screamed and flailed until her throat was raw, until the doctors were forced to sedate her. Through a couple repeats of this incident, the medical staff were able to keep her awake in a half-drugged state, and soon figured out what had happened. They sent for a specialist in psychic powers to work with her, but in the meantime, they broke the bad news to her. Not only was her mother dead, but her legs had been damaged by the crash, burned by a chemical fire. They were not likely to ever work again, at least not without spending money she or her grieving father didn't have.

The specialist did his best working with Kaitlyn, but the girl remained unresponsive - traumatized, in shock, and still constantly half-drugged. It took some time for her to get enough control of her abilities for them to, finally, release her from care - not because she was entirely ready, but because insurance would only last her so long. The wheelchair-bound girl that her father brought home was a shell of her former self, not quite catatonic, but much too close for comfort, overwhelmed by the constant rush of others' emotions in her head. Doctors discussed with her father the option of mental institutions, places where a super-powered girl like her wouldn't endanger others. It was this threat that spurred Kate into activity, agreeing to another tutor to train her. And so it went for the next two years. Kate remained solitary, hidden away. She lost touch with her friends, became estranged with even her father. She wasn't wallowing in her depression, though. She's not completely over the accident, and in some part of her mind still blames herself, but she's moved on. Isolation was simply easier on her powers, easier on others who wouldn't know how to handle the emotional sponge. And then, one day, things finally clicked.

Lifting things with the power of the mind was supposed to be a basic trick, for psychics. Kate had, early on, settled on the very specific idea of lifting herself, getting out of the wheelchair, being free. She'd trained her other abilities, of course, to lesser extents - psionic blasts, mental manipulation - but it was the day that she held herself in midair for several hours that she decided she could still be something. Things moved fast, after that. She designed and purchased a costume from a reputable and discreet tailor, and took on the name Dreamweaver - admittedly cheesy, but the song had played during a difficult time in the hospital, and it had become an ear worm for her. She found herself the cheapest apartment she could stand, and began defending Westside from the gangs that roamed it.

The Adventurers

She wasn't quite ready for anything, though. In one instance of defending a woman from a group of Red Banner, she was almost overwhelmed, until the heroine Juggernette charged to her rescue. In return, Dreamweaver graciously offered to buy lunch for her savior, and the two became fast friends. Eventually, Dream encountered Red Spider in Club Caprice, and was invited into the Adventurers, thanks in part to Juggernette's recommendation. Kate was ecstatic - she knew she wasn't much good alone, and the team seemed like a friendly bunch.

Dreamweaver hid her identity from her team, nervous about how they'd take her disability, even forced to hide her distinctive hair under her hood at all times. She made friends with most of the team regulars, though, and due to either trust or accident, most of her friends figured out her secret, which was a weight off her mind. Blue Wonder and Red Spider also, eventually, had a talk with her about her drinking; eager to turn her life around and in a good mood, she agreed to try her best to be more responsible. This responsibility continues to waver.

After a while in the group, Katie received a fancy new armored suit courtesy of teammate Lady Justice, complete with powered leg braces that allow her to walk for the first time in years, albeit in an awkward, stiff, clumsy way. While not practical, the feature cheered Katie up quite a bit after a string of disappointing showings in the team's adventures. Katie began to doubt herself, questioning the usefulness of her admittedly-weak abilities as she went up against enemies like Etherloch and Serpent Master. It certainly didn't help that, for almost a couple weeks, she was simply unable to get any rest. She would fall asleep, but wake up tired - unbeknownst to her, under nightly assault by a psychic supervillain she had previously arrested. Thankfully this was put to a stop by Juggernette, who built a sort of psychic Faraday cage around their bedroom; Katie had moved in with the woman some time earlier, but the two keep their relationship relatively low-key. The villain's involvement in her sleep trouble wasn't discovered.

Due to bad luck, Katie kept missing important missions with her team as they investigated a new drug making the rounds, present only for the first encounter with the Etherloch monster, their initial meeting with the imprisoned supervillain Poison Lash, and the temporary mutation of Red Spider back into her monster form. When Poison Lash, their temporary ally, went rogue and disappeared with a sample of the Etherloch creature, she jumped at the chance to investigate alone and prove herself to the others. This went about as well as one might expect. Overpowered by a pair of monstrous UNTIL soldiers-turned-experiments, Lash threw the unconscious heroine into a back-alley like a piece of trash, not even worth holding hostage, leaving her only with a mysterious needle mark on her neck. Medical scans, fortunately, turned up clean. This particularly-crushing defeat, however, pushed Katie to train hard with her telekinesis. She began showing signs of improvement, although it still wasn't enough to subdue Serpent Master when he interrupted a team lunch.

What she lacked in combat prowess, however, she tended to make up for socially. In a way, she became an ear for several of her teammates, always willing to listen and offer advice when she could.

Dream again accidentally missed out on the team dealing with Poison Lash and Etherloch's combined forces; although the slimy beast was destroyed, Poison Lash escaped injured. Not wanting to miss out again, she made sure she was there to confront the scientist. Unfortunately, during the fight Lash played his hidden hand; managing to slice her with a poisoned claw, he was able to activate a virus he'd injected into her in their previous confrontation that blocked the heroine's powers. Mere minutes later, Dreamweaver fell out of the air, helpless. While teammate Xeno tried to carry Dream to safety, Hornett engaged Lash. Unwilling to abandon him despite her lack of powers, she freed herself from Xeno and ran to help... realizing suddenly that she could feel - and use - her legs. Poison Lash had, for whatever incomprehensible reason, removed her powers but healed her legs! Hornett finished Lash off, and Dream was carried back to base. Unfortunately, nothing could be done. For the moment, Dream could walk again! On atrophied legs that caused constant minor pain, and reduced to a civilian again.

A couple weeks later, Kate had exercised her legs back to being functional, and had been adjusting to normal life. Of course, she had to face Lash at some point. She and several teammates visited the villain, and after becoming frustrated with her taunts, he took away her legs, giving her the sadistic choice of deciding between them or her powers before leaving her with neither. Although at first unwilling to play his games, Kate eventually chose her powers, and was given three days to say goodbye to her mobility. She did her best to make the most of the time she had left.

The next horror for Kaitlyn came when it was discovered that she had been acting as a traitor to her team, helping VIPER to blackmail Red Spider's father, even set up plans to murder the heroine herself, and when discovered, attempt to destroy a building and herself with one ultimate blast of psionic force. She had been brainwashed, of course, unaware that she'd even been doing these crimes while "blacked out", but the guilt remained, especially once her memories of these villainous exploits were returned to her. She remained in therapy for several months afterward, eventually managing to mostly forgive herself, thanks to the compassion and understanding of the Adventurers.

She continues to be active on the team, though her experiences have caused her to be cautious and timid when venturing out on patrol alone.

Personality

Katie is relatively bubbly on her own, when unaffected by others, with an easygoing and playful attitude. She's a shameless flirt with both men and women, perfectly willing to entertain either. She is self-conscious about her disability, however; since the accident, she's been much more reserved, embarrassed by her secret even when revealing it to those she trusts; even then, she's still self-conscious of the scars and burns coating her legs, faded as they are. She doesn't want to be treated differently just because she has to sit in a wheelchair when in casual clothes. She tends to drink heavily, and thanks to her frame doesn't have a very high tolerance for it, but at least she's a happy drunk.

As far as her role as a superheroine goes, Katie still loves the sights she gets to see, the amazing things she often has to fight. She's become a bit savvy to the tropes of her career, and although it takes a lot for her to take a situation deadly serious and cut out the snark, she is all too willing to leap between an enemy and a friend in their defense, to face danger head-on to protect others with surprisingly little regard for herself - a possible after-effect of her guilt.

Although still haunted by her past, Kate is genuinely pretty happy with her current life. She can often be found in Club Caprice, absorbing the ambient good feelings - and while she also used to take advantage of the bar to drink herself into a daze, she only occasionally falls into old habits now. Moving out of her shabby Westside apartment has done wonders for her mood; the crime-ridden slum was a breeding ground for hopelessness and despair. Other than her continued unemployment, she feels she lives a good life. She helps people, she has friends again, and she's finally able to be proud of herself.

Appearance

Katie is a very short girl, with milky, not-quite-pale skin. She's fairly curvy, but has little muscle on her, making her look somewhat fragile. She has large, sky-blue eyes, and though her hair is naturally a glossy black, she almost always has it dyed a variety of colors, currently a bright blue. Her wheelchair is a fairly simple design, made for comfort. She tends towards long skirts, both for their ease in putting on, and for hiding her legs, which are covered in the faded remnants of burns and scars. She wears a pair of dark chestnut-colored glasses.

Powers

Empathy

Although not powerful enough to sense actual, coherent thoughts, or "read minds", Katie can and will sense people's emotional states - whether she wants to or not. She has poor control over her powers, usually unable to shut out others, and her mood is often and easily affected by the general emotional "feel" of her immediate surroundings. As previously mentioned, a place like Club Caprice can brighten her outlook, while the slums of Westside bring her down to despair. She is getting better at keeping herself level, however. Along with this sense, she is also able to actually affect the emotions of others - mostly Kate restricts herself to soothing people who are hurt or panicking, but she is capable of causing fright, mental pain, or even drowsiness, for offensive purposes. A common trick of hers has been to outright put enemies to sleep. She can even use her powers to affect the dreams someone has, able to cause nightmares or something more pleasant.

Telekinesis

Katie is actually a fairly powerful telekinetic, but had spent so much of her training time focused on lifting herself that it didn't show very well. Still, the fact that she can keep herself aloft through relatively high amounts of pain, exhaustion, or drunkenness is rather impressive. She no longer needs to concentrate to keep herself in the air, it's as easy as a normal person would find standing. She can also clumsily manipulate objects or create shimmering "force fields" around herself or others, for defense or containment. After more intensive practice, she is much stronger in this area.

Weaknesses

Dreamweaver's original costume

Paraplegic: Most obvious among Dreamweaver's weaknesses is the loss of the use of her legs - specifically, from the hip socket down. If her powers are suppressed, or she can't gather the energy or concentration to lift herself, she is basically immobile. Even with her new armor, the mechanized legs afford only the most basic of shambling movement, and practically no agility.

Open Mind: As a side affect of her powers, Kate will sometimes have her very personality affected by someone she is focusing on, temporarily "absorbing" someone else's quirks or mood; even someone's particular tastes, such as a fondness for a certain food or drink. This can, of course, be dangerous, though not to the other person - she's not stealing anything from them. This rarely happens in combat, since Kate is very much trying not to connect to the bad guys. This also means that unlike many psychics, her mental defenses are relatively poor.

Noncombatant: Katie is physically weak and has no combat experience; against enemies with mental defenses, she has little to defend herself with besides force fields.

Can't See Without Her Glasses: Katie is nearsighted, her vision blurry without corrective lenses. For the purposes of hiding her identity, she wears glasses in her normal life, and has corrective lenses built into the domino mask of her Dreamweaver costume.