Clarice Ferguson

## Personality

Despite a relatively isolated childhood, Clarice is as well-adjusted and confident as one could expect--probably a great deal more so than most in her situation.  Her family has always been close-knit and extremely supportive, and, though she was not able to attend school or church or summer camp like most girls her age, she always had a small battalion of cousins to keep her up to date on the latest developments in pop culture, fashion, and entertainment.  (They also served to keep Clarice surprisingly well-socialized, given the challenges presented by her unusual appearance.)  She's not unconscious of her appearance, nor the way it can be off-putting to others, which makes her shy and tentative among strangers.  But once she knows she's been accepted, her lively, even audacious personality comes shining through.  Clarice is adventurous, inquisitive, and fairly fearless, always willing to push both her physical limits and those of her mutant gifts.  She possesses a wry, even sardonic sense of humor, but has little patience for foolishness.

## Powers

Blink has the ability to displace matter and energy through teleportation rifts that she can generate, which appear as blinking holes.  These holes allow her to move objects or people various distances, and displace matter out of sync with reality.  Her effective teleporting range is effectively to the moon and back (though she is not aware of this as yet, and has never attempted anything nearly so ambitious).

Clarice is capable of manifesting the energy of her rift-portals in the form of short energy-matter javelins, which she can throw causing the target to teleport, either wholly or in part, to another area.  Using this ability both offensively and defensively, she can open blink holes to divert attacks or use them as makeshift markers for matter shifting or as a teleportational beacon.  Using these, she can send multiple targets to multiple locations.

## Talents

Swimming, karaoke, blinking things to the places she wants them to go

## Interests

Swimming, music, Maya Angelou, history, blinking things, blinking herself, the sea, fishing, makeup (in theory), target practice

## History

Born in the Abaco chain of Family Islands in the Bahamas, it was immediately clear that Clarice Ferguson was not like other children: her skin was bright pink, her faint hair magenta, and her eyes glowed a lambent green.  Still, her parents were determined to love her, and her large extended family quickly learned to, as well.  Clarice's unusual physical characteristics kept her from school and the other normal activities of children her age, but her uncles, aunts, and cousins more than made up the difference.  She grew up picnicking on deserted cays for Independence Day, spending hours on the water fishing for grunts and snappers and turbits.  She learned to snorkel and conch.  It was not the most refined education, but it suited her well enough.

Shortly after Clarice turned thirteen, her powers manifested in as unexpected and unwelcome manner as they possibly could, with her inadvertently teleporting the bow of an American pleasure boat thirty feet from the stern, all for disrupting a day of fishing with her father and uncle.  Though no one was hurt and the Fergusons ferried the startled visitors back to shore without incident, it was a fairly clear sign that Clarice's ... unusual nature went much beyond her strange skin and eyes.  After extended deliberation, the family resolved to move her to the United States, where she would be. if not safe, at least safer from those who might attempt to harm or use her for her gifts.

Clarice and her parents lived quietly as part of the immigrant community in Miami for a few years.  Though the young teen did not relish the change, she accepted it and did her best to adjust.  The worst part was giving up the sea; though she was as near the water as ever, the crowded beaches of Miami were not nearly so welcoming as the isolated white-sand strands of home.  She spent the majority of her time indoors, from that point, though the internet and regular Skype calls home helped relieve the feelings of isolation.

Matters came to a head when an agent of Immigration and Naturalization appeared on their door, wanting to know why Clarice had been withheld from school for all the two years and more since the family's arrival.  The teen panicked, teleporting the agent and his car three miles offshore before her parents could calm her.  Shortly after that, Professor Charles Xavier arrived at the Fergusons' modest apartment, offering Clarice a chance for the one thing her family had never quite been able to provide: the opportunity for a normal education, and normal socialization among peers who were dealing with difficulties similar to her own.  For Clarice, it was not a difficult decision.