Penelope Strauss

**Penelope Strauss** (ペネロペ・ストラウス *Penerope* *Sutorausu*) is the daughter of Lisanna Strauss and Bixslow as well as the twin sister of Paige Strauss. She is the older sister of Pim, Poseidon and Pulan Strauss and younger sister of Pacer and Pearson Strauss. She has been an S-Class Mage since 11 years old, becoming the youngest S-Class Mage since Erza Scarlet who triumphed at 15.

## Appearance

Penelope is below average height but is a slender young girl with a voluptuous body even at a young age, something she shares in common with Luna Dragneel. She has long thick snow-white hair with a streak of blue and dark blue and black. Her hair has a headband that changes nearly every day. She is always found wearing her red glasses that help her control her Magic, similar to Bixslow’s shades and Paige’s **Vixen Totem**. Her outfit varies, but her most common outfit is a short sleeves button-up shirt in a different color ever day with a tie that goes with her headband as well as brown leather knee-high boots and a skirt of some kind. Her silver Fairy Tail mark is on her left hip.

## Personality

Penelope is always quiet. Her expression is usually stoic even when really excited. When she does talk, it is generally inappropriate or realistic but she does give solid advice and battle strategy. She harbors a deep respect and routine for mediation to control her powers which is something she joins Luke Dragneel doing early in the mornings. She often takes things too literally and has no sense of sarcasm or humor as she does not use them for herself.

Penelope is close to her twin sister to the point of a **Soul Connection** that people mistake as Twin Telepathy. While she might seem standoffish to her twin, she cares about her a great deal and tries to teach her the consequences to her impulsivity. She is close to her family as well even through her emotionless expression. She dotes on her triplet brothers and cannot resist Eloise Strauss’ pouts. She understands Mary Jane Dreyar a great deal and would often, without Mary Jane knowing, meditate near her while she slept to help control her outbursts of Magic.

Penelope is highly intelligent and has done extensive magical research which makes her a worthy adversary and friend to Mystogan Fernandes. She seems to know much of unknown guild background about Gary Fullbuster, the Dragneel siblings, Gale Redfox, and many more. As an S-Class Mage, she is an excellent strategist and always puts her guild members first in a tough situation. While she is mainly serious or expressionless, she does exhibit some hilarious qualities when she tries to follow societal norms. Such as when Gray Fullbuster strips, Penelope will try to strip as she assumes it is protocol. She has a thing for cosplay, but she oftens makes Luna cosplay for her. It is implied she has an interest in Aisha which could mean Penelope displays something other than heternormativity.

Despite this, Penelope seems to follow real-world **Asian or Eastern religions and philosophies** and practices them.

## History

Penelope was quiet as a child, opting to not speak. She was born with much magical power and had to get special glasses in order to keep her powers in check. She was always there to hold back Paige from a fight, easily overpowering her. She holds the record to be the youngest S-Class Mage in Fiore at the age of 12, beating Lance.

## Magic and Abilities

**Figure Eyes** (造形眼 *Figyua Aisu*): Penelope possess exclusive Eye Magic which she employs as her signature ability. In his case, the Figure Eyes allow her to take control of the souls of living things who come into direct eye contact with her, and to manipulate them as if they were her dolls. When she uses this Magic, the body of the living being controlled turns into a darker color. Such control can seemingly be nullified at Penelope's will, with the target being returned to the old self and regaining possession of their body. Activating this Eye Magic usually forces Penelope's opponents to close their eyes, in order to avoid eye contact with her; this very action, however, leaves them open to the attacks of her other Magic.

**Soul Magic:** While not forbidden, this is a rare **Caster Magic** that does a lot on the body. This ability is the mother of **Seith Magic** as this Magic does include manipulating and trapping souls of both the living and the dead. The two types of are **Seith Magic** which is capturing and manipulation of other souls on a physical level and **Spæ Magic** which is the capturing and manipulation of oneself’s soul as well as manipulate living souls on a psychological level. While Spæ Magic is more exhausting due to the caster manipulating the souls of the living and of themselves, it is also illegal and relatively harmful to the body as mortals were not meant to reap the souls of the living nor meant to control and manifest their own soul power. Soul Magic regardless always those who possess the ability to see souls and their nature

* **Soul Reaper**: A type of **Spæ Magic** and Caster Magic that allows Penelope to “reap” the souls of the living as well as return their souls to them. It is different from Human or Animal Possession as she can fully enter their souls and take them away from their bodies, transporting them at her desire.
	+ **Otherworld (Unnamed Move)**: She can summon souls out of their living hosts and into a realm called the “Otherworld” by saying the phrase: *“I command this soul to leave behind its earthly tether and join me on its journey to the Otherworld. May we walk together in peace. Come! I order this as a Soul Reaper!”* She does this combined with her hand signals of her hands turning to fists and pressing against each other, the fists turning to open hands forming a triangle, and triangle having the hands collapse onto each other with the pointer fingers up and connected.
* **Soul Meister**: A type of **Spæ Magic** and Caster Magic that allows Penelope to become the master of her own soul.
	+ **Soul Hands**: Forming a bear paw with her hands, Penelope creates hands made out of her soul energy that capture her opponents.
	+ **Soul Protect**: Penelope can create a shield of her soul power after her hands curl into each other and twirl around.
	+ **Healing Wavelength**: Knuckles pressed together with the pads of the thumbs that then converge into a triangle, Penelope uses her soul as a healing wavelength, meaning she heals from the soul similar to Alkahestry.

**Shadow Charmer:** This type of Magic is both Caster and **Holder Magic**, but it is **Black Magic** all the same. As Mystogan once stated, Penelope has the makings of a Shadow Charmer, a person who has a connection to darkness, yet is not inherently evil. A Shadow Charmer has the ability to **Charm** darkness and manipulate it  and anything associated with it to their will, such as shadows or **Dark Creatures**, depending on the Mage’s strength. A powerful Shadow Charmer can even use the **Shadow Realm** to travel, a skill **Shadow Dragon Slayer** **Rogue Cheney** has. It is said Shadow Charmers were gifted their powers through **Shadow Dragons**. Rather than teaching a human their Magic, a Shadow Dragon would **Touch** them and bestow upon them the powers of darkness and shadows at a mortal capacity.

* **Dark Charm**: This has no connection to the forbidden Magic **Charm**. This Magic is tailored to Shadow Charmers who are able to Charm darkness and shadows to do their bidding, including creatures and places.
	+ **Unnamed Wraith**: Penelope is able to **Charm** a **Wraith** to become her own. For however long is unknown.
* **Dark Summon:**Dark Summon is a rare **Spatial Magic** that can be compared to **Celestial Spirit Magic**. Like Celestial Spirit Magic, this Magic allows the Mage to summon a creature except these creatures are Dark Creatures. Depending on the strength of the user, they could summon anything from a mindless **Ghoul** to a powerful **Djinn**. This type of **Spatial Magic** is primarily used by those who are in training to become Shadow Charmers—a Mage opposite of White Mages with a connection to darkness, yet not innately evil like a Black Mage. To summon a Dark Creature, it depends on the Mage. Penelope uses hand symbols to summon her creatures.
* **Ghoul Drive**: This spell enables Penelope to summon Ghouls at her disposal. She fists one hand while the other slides over it. Then,  the hands slid to cup themselves in front of her while the palms face outwards.

**Transformation Magic** (変身魔法 *Henshin Mahō*): Penelope is able to perform **Basic**, **Intermediate**, and **Advanced Level** transformations with ease.

**Telekinesis**: Penelope has shown the ability to move objects around in the air without touching them.

**Telepathy** (念話, テレパシー, *Terepashī*): Penelope has shown the ability to be able to communicate telepathically with others.

**Flight Magic:** Penelope has shown she is capable of harnessing Flight Magic. While Flight Magic is difficult to master when embedded into armor, harnessing Flight Magic within yourself is an achievement for the advanced Mages. Any Mage who can fly on their own say you must have mastery over Telekinesis in order for you to use Flight Magic.

**Immense Agility**: Penelope has shown her great agility skills with her speed as well as reflexes.

**Enhanced Durability**: Even after being injured, Penelope has shown to be a tough fighter.

**Enhanced Strength**: With her age, Penelope is considerably strong. She is able to match the strength of Gary when she pushes herself, a great feat.

**Master Hand-to-Hand Combat**: Penelope has proven to be skilled in hand-to-hand combat. She moves effortlessly and is able to dodge and attack without the opponent seeing her blows or her movements.

**Immense Magic Power**: Penelope has astounding Magic Power as she is able to master types of Magic easily. Still, she is humble about her prowess, often uncomfortable when non-Mage people inquire her about it.

## Equipment

**Glasses**: Penelope's glasses act as a limiter to her Magic. With her glasses on, she can still easily control souls. Without her glasses on, she regains the power to consume souls and strip them from the living just by staring at them.

## Trivia

* Penelope's middle name is Leia, inspired by Princess Leia from Star Wars.
* Her birthday is shared with the release of **Mamoru Hosoda’s** Summer Wars.
* Like with Bixslow particular naming system, Penelope and her siblings all have P names and L middle names.
* Penelope was inspired from Homura Akemi of *Puella Magi Madoka Magica*, including her voice actor.
* In the original drafts, Penelope’s character was not developed and joined the flow of the story. She was made as a counterbalance to Paige’s impulsivity and her becoming S-Class was not decided until the second-to-last draft before the final rendition.
* According to one of the character designers, Penelope was set to have blue hair like Paige and blue eyes like her mother. She was set to have Human Possession as well. However, the creators realized it would not make sense for her to have Human Possession with her level of skill and decided to divide the twins in their Black Magic.
* In an interview with Jason, Penelope revealed the following facts about herself:
	+ She has a low tolerance for lactose.
	+ She has no sweet tooth.
	+ While she does not personally like cute things on her, she tries to get her twin sister and Luna to dress cutely.
	+ She hates the feeling of walking barefoot on sand.