Leona Hope

Leona Hope is the publicity manager and secretary at Pandora Labs, as well as the first test subject of Project Pandora's Box, known as Conduit.

## General Information

### Quick Stats

Gender: cis female

Sexuality: heterosexual

Age: 28

### Physical Appearance

Leona has a natural curvy and heavier build, a round face, and a perpetual bright smile. She has frizzy hair that falls just past her shoulders, often pulled back with a headband with a pink heart decoration. She wears a red sweater over a white tank top, blue jeans, and sandals.

As Conduit, she wears a bright yellow jumpsuit made of a thick polyester-like material. The suit almost resembles a hazmat suit without the mask, with black accents along the seams. She also has a matching yellow half mask around her eyes, and her hair is tied back in a poofy ponytail with a gold ribbon.

### Personality

Leona is genuinely kind, brutally honest, and doggedly loyal. She's a woman with a lot of confidence and a desire to protect and support those close to her. She's somewhat of a social butterfly and can be outgoing to the point of abrasiveness, though despite her blunt and straightforward nature her own emotions can be surprisingly difficult for others to read. She always says what's on her mind and isn't afraid to tell it like it is, preferring to move on rather than dwell in the past. She's always there for her friends, either to listen and give advice, or to beat up the people that have wronged them. She harbors a lot of irrational guilt about her past and is almost obsessive about making it up.

When she was younger, she possessed a more spoiled attitude, having been the baby of the family and was always able to live comfortably. She was also more insecure, having some issues with body image and self-esteem that led her to be a very emotionally needy person. She would constantly demand attention and seek validation from others and had trouble being left alone. This attitude still comes out on her bad days, where she can become very bratty and needy when she's in a negative mood.

### History

Leona was born in Ockross to a well-off family, and was sheltered and coddled by her parents in her early childhood. She wasn't very close to her brother Damian when they were young, due to them being six years apart. As a teenager, her social nature led her to go to a lot of events and parties, but when she met and started to hang around a clique-like group, she began to constantly worry about her own appearance and self-image. She was ugly, her hair was unruly, she wasn't skinny enough. She spent more and more time fussing over her own appearance, sometimes waking up two hours before school just to make sure she had an outfit people would like. She also fell into the habit of binge eating and purging, as she was deathly afraid of people rejecting her and losing all of her friends because she was ugly and fat.

Meanwhile, Damian was in his own world and unavailable to her, obsessing over his own studies in genetic engineering at the local university, and Leona was too horrified and guilty of what she was doing to open up to anyone. She came to resent Damian for not being there for her, yet at the same time, Damian was frustrated that Leona hadn't understood his own angst he was going through about not having powers. Feeling alone and isolated, Leona continued to go to hang with the "in-crowd" and go to parties, but the toxic environment only exacerbated her lack of self-esteem. By the time she (barely) graduated high school, she was thoroughly beaten. She closed herself off from others, retreating into a dingy apartment and getting a job as a telemarketer, where she could work from home and wouldn't have to show her face. However, she still spend a lot of time on social media, obsessively watching the popular crowd. She was barely scraping by, and even had to resort to asking her parents for money, though she was vague about what she was going through.

Then it all changed one day, when Damian showed up at her door, his face alight with joy and excitement like it never had before. She was twenty-two years old, he was twenty-eight and they had barely talked for the past ten years. She was wary of him at first, and angry at him so taking so long to visit despite her being the one trying to cut off contact, but she couldn't hide away any longer. She broke down and told him everything, the toxicity of her high school experience, her insecurities about her body, and her eating habits, which Damian quickly identified as bulimia. That isn't to say they weren't distrustful of each other at first, especially when Leona realized that Damian had visited to try and recruit her to help with his research, but as they were honest with each other and understood what the other had gone through. With Damian's support, she slowly began to shed old habits and seek out treatment, building herself back up. She also began to work as a publicity manager for Pandora Labs, where she found genuine friends that she didn't have to worry about the judgement of.

About a year prior to the RP, when Project Pandora's Box was finally coming to fruition, she fearlessly volunteered herself as a guinea pig. She thought she could use the power to be heard and influence the world around her, while protecting the ones she loved. Instead, she became what she feared most, a parasite. And to rub salt in the wound, she found herself hungry and sleepy at all times, causing old memories about her body image to resurface. She willingly use her powers so Damian and his team could continue to study her, but it pained her every time she had to absorb someone's energy, and she would refuse to take the energy of Damian himself.

### Trivia

* In her free time, she knits and does health/lifestyle vlogs
* Has hypoglycemia
* Token heterosexual of Ockross but the most aggressive ally you'll ever meet

## Heroes of Ockross

### Powers

**Energy absorption:** When Conduit touches someone, they can willingly offer her some of their own vitality. This "donor" usually will find themself hungry, tired, or both, and if they are already in a weakened state, they may fall unconscious. If she takes too much energy from one person they will die. Granted by Project Pandora's Box.

**Energy form.** After absorbing enough energy from her donor, she transforms into an "energized" state. This causes her eyes to glow pure white. Her physical speed, strength, and endurance are increased by about double, and she gains the ability to create shockwave-like energy blasts. She can stay in this state for about half an hour by default before she becomes tired, but performing physically strenuous tasks or taking hits can cause her to lose energy faster. Granted by Project Pandora's Box.

**Close combat:** Not a true power, but she has trained in multiple forms of martial arts, from judo to Muay Thai to kickboxing, and has derived her own fighting style.