Higgledy-pigglety
Fire kitty Symmetry
Obligatory catgirl
Of Project Rebirth
Says of her methods
Most pyromaniacal,
"When it comes to fire, I
Prefer 'scorched earth.'"

-=-

Hey, look, a picture that isn't of Shizuka.

This is one of my City of Heroes characters, Symmetry, drawn by the player of a character named Witch Engine. Symmetry was both a roleplay and a game-play character, and my answer to a population of cat-girl characters that was at one point sufficient to more than fill four entire supergroups dedicated to cat-girl themed characters. Among those dozens upon dozens of characters, there were damned few with a hint of background or personality beyond "generic cute anime catgirl." It was something of a running joke on the server. So I created one.

There was also a glut of grim, dark, and angsty "heroes." Sometimes it seemed as though everyone in Paragon City was an orphan. So of course I decided to address that, too.

Her in-game background went something like this:

-=-

Most children go through a period of alienation as they grow older. And most children aren't even born pyrokinetic weretigresses.

Rahne Connell was. And she didn't. You see, Rahne enjoys being a pyrokinetic weretigress. Fortunately, these are abilities she is able to put to good use in Paragon City, because it's hard enough finding a job that requires an English degree if you're not a pyrokinetic weretigress, and if you are, well... books and paperwork don't tend to mix well with being a fire kitty of doom.

But hey, her parents aren't dead, her childhood was reasonably happy, she has no dark, angsty secrets, and she loves being a superhero. So there.

-=-

This was slightly rewritten to include the sobriquet "Fire Kitty of Doom," which was stuck onto her by another player after Sym more or less completely eliminated an accidental triple-pull of Vazhilok zombie-things (the bane of low-level heroes) during a sewer mission. Fire blasters are good at wiping out hordes of weaker minion-level enemies, and she pretty much saved what would have otherwise been a total party wipe.

Rahne eventually took up writing articles for a local magazine, then became a guest lecturer at Paragon's university, presenting a sociology elective on catgirl culture in Paragon City. She also had a little income from an endorsement deal. For milk.

I really liked the character.