Neasa McConmara WIP

[TennyoCeres84]

Finally got this thing written. I'm posting it here for any comments or suggestions you guys might want to offer.

Name: Neasa McConmara
Age: 30 years old
Gender: Female
Species: Selkie/roane

Strengths: The eldest of the McConmara siblings is gifted with super strength and a certain amount of resilience to harm. Her weightlifting limits are currently untested, but she far exceeds even the most athletic roanes. Ironically, she does not bulk up in comparison to most comic book superheroines. While she can move quickly, her speed still remains in the spectrum of average selkies. Her strength can be bolstered by changes in libido, temper, hormonal cycle, level of injuries, and even the lunar phases. Her yoga practice has also made her quite flexible.

The signature ability of selkies allows her to change form from that of a humanoid form to that of a leopard seal by shedding her sealskin; she can return to her human form by putting it back on again. While her younger siblings resemble harbor seals, she’s predisposed to being a better hunter.
Like all selkies, she can communicate telepathically. Her abilities are average in regard to reach and effects.

Besides English, Neasa is fluent in French, as it is something she boosted her knowledge of it during college. The Irish Gaelic and Inuktuit have fallen by the wayside somewhat, but she’s still got a strong grasp of the selkie language (Sedna and Cole wouldn’t let her hear the end of it if she didn’t),

Weaknesses: Neasa’s great strength relies heavily upon the inheritance of her ancestor, Urthar, as much as Aislinn inherited her arcane prowess from Meris. However, it comes at a risk of losing control. The leopard selkies of Antarctica are the closest the species has to lycanthropy, being an odd blend of willful transformation but also having a feral side lying underneath the surface. Like Berserkers, they learned to control their wildness for the betterment of all and passed that on through the generations. Thankfully, her more urbane nature keeps this threat at bay, despite it being there.

On the note of her more cultured side, she isn’t as tied to the culture as Aislinn or Ciaran are. This can link back to her risk of losing control with her strength, as it is losing connection to the more humane and pacifying elements of being a theriomorph.

As with all selkies, if their pelt is taken, they cannot change forms; also, if harmed or destroyed, there is a significant chance of the selkie dying, as the pelt is a vital part of them.

Appearance: The second tallest out of the McConmara siblings, Neasa stands at 5’8” and weighs 150 lbs. Having the selkies’ signature pale skin, Neasa has board-straight black hair, in contrast to the curly locks of her siblings. Her eyes are a very dark brown that verges on black. Having had a willowy build in her teens, she filled out to have a shapelier form as a thirty-year old woman, along with sturdy arms and legs from yoga classes and weight training. She keeps her nails expertly manicured. She has the other signature selkie features as well: webbed hands and feet and two rows of sharp teeth reminiscent of a leopard seal’s.

The strongwoman can usually be found wearing the latest fashions, and she tends to wear a variety of shades, from pastels to jewel tones. Compared to her young sister, Neasa is seen more often in dresses and skirts, but she certainly doesn’t eschew pants and shorts. She dresses herself in attire that accentuates her assets, when the time is suitable for it. Her tastes in sleepwear tend toward flowing and comfortable with a sexy hemline or neckline.

As for her pelt, she took after her ancestor Urthar’s leopard seal form, being far larger and longer than Aislinn and Ciaran’s roly-poly harbor seals. Her features are far from cute and have a decidedly predatory look. As seen from the top, her sealskin is a dark gray, while the underbelly is a light gray, with the throat being closer to white and black spots all over.

Behavior: The oldest McConmara is the most urbane out of the trio, feeling more comfortable with the hustle and bustle of city life than Aislinn or Ciaran. This reflects in her sartorial choices, her ambitions in her collegiate career, and eventual entrepreneurship. The reason for this behavior stems from the influence of SuReCA and the overall culture of her childhood. The environment to conform proved to be somewhat of a stronger siren song in her formative years, while she does still harbor knowledge of her people’s ways.

The relationship between Neasa and the twins is one of care and protectiveness, while she’s also been a rival for their parents’ attention in their younger years. With Ciaran as the resident sneak and Aislinn as the impromptu artist on board, she was the most outgoing. As a child, she was something of a chatterbox, a trait that’s developed into a flirtatious nature. She’ll usually chat up men of various types, if they’re open to it. However, if they’re more conservatively monogamous or just plain boring, such targets will remain off her list of acceptable candidates.

The boutique owner has mixed feelings toward her primary ability of super strength. While it is handy in dealing with bad guys and ne’er-do-wells, it’s also a turn-off for some men who would rather have their girlfriend not considerably stronger than them. Thankfully, she has no interest in such gentlemen. On the other hand, there is a risk of losing control. The circumstances under which her powers manifested have left her with a certain feeling of guilt and apprehension, regardless of the lack of hard feelings displayed by Aislinn. This side of her can be aroused by someone of an equally talented individual or a foe that relies on brute strength. Her inner leopard seal is a cunning creature, befitting one of the Antarctic Ocean’s apex predators. This blends well with her knack for acting, something that was sharpened over the course of her minor in drama at Hope University.
Goals: Her current goal is to keep her boutique running and live her life as an independent career woman. The recent upheaval involving Gawain MacHae, Void Weavers, and the Centennial Tree has served to awaken her powers while also calling her to protect her hometown from outside forces.

History: Prior to Neasa’s birth, both Sedna and Cole’s families were travelers. Sedna’s family tended to stay within the waters around Canada, having mingled off and on with the Inuit for centuries. Cole’s family sailed many of the waterways Meris’s family had earlier, following the schools of fish. During World War II and the Cold War, some had entered into combat, while other roanes wanted to stay off the radar as anything that would be considered “other”. However, lifestyles were changing and becoming less simplified. While protected by the Vienna Accords, they collectively felt strengthening bonds between outer lying clans and groups would be in their best interests, while this sentiment was further reinforced by groups’ various seers.

Families either volunteered or drew lots in who would be staying in their ancestral homes and who would be selected to form bonds with their distant kin across the Atlantic. Sedna’s family was one of the ones chosen to meet up with a selkie clan hailing from the Orkney Islands, one that seemingly carried a lot of prestige due to a fabled ancestor. In 1991, Cole and Sedna met in Ireland and hit it off quite well, sailing together for four years while Hope was experiencing the new generation of edgy and brooding antiheroes.

Upon realizing she was pregnant, Sedna and Cole realized they wanted a certain amount of stability for their child. Hope had just recently been re-inaugurated after the post-Battle of Hope renovations had been completed, and the city had a continuous settlement of McLochs, selkies, and Finfolk, having also become the unofficial center of the Finfolk government, quietly headed by Sarvin, their king and partner in the Commission. While not perfect, the city seemed to have what they needed to start raising a family. They filled out the needed inter-Atlantic immigration paperwork and found a spot in the local harbor where they could dock their houseboat. Neasa was born in 1995 and would remain their only child for five years.

Unfortunately, the “Sai Case” of 1998 would complicate their lives, causing mundanes to look at them and others with suspicion. At the time, little Neasa was unaware of the turmoil and played as any selkie child would. The birth of Ciaran and Aislinn in 2000 ended her time as an only child, which was both exciting and frustrating for the girl, who had been used to receiving all of her parents’ attention. Now, she had to contend with two babies constantly needed to be fed, changed, and played with. Cole and Sedna were not oblivious to their oldest daughter’s irritation and sat her down to talk with her about her responsibility to look after her young siblings, secretly being concerned with the growing tension in the United States, Canada, and Europe toward superhumans. Not long after, she would start school and begin to interact more frequently with children her own age who weren’t selkies, Finfolk, or aquatic dragons.

The subsequent Superhuman Registration and Control Act in 2005 forced them to eventually register their abilities, along with their now three children’s powers. Neasa’s super strength manifested one day while she was thirteen. While playing with Aislinn at a local lake, her adrenaline became too heightened and caused her to accidentally break her younger sister’s arm. She profusely apologized to Aislinn about how she didn’t mean to do it, that it was an accident. The eight-year-old realized this was the truth and forgave her; however, it had happened in public in a time where any gifted individual was seen as a potential threat. Like her siblings, this perception would follow them through their school years, leaving Neasa with the desire to assimilate and seem as mundane as possible. Aislinn and Ciaran found their own methods to appear normal or find some sense of belonging, but Neasa found her means of coping through her love of color and sewing.

After graduating high school, the ambitious selkie attended Hope University and graduated with a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts. During these years, she dated and experimented around with members of both genders, not uncommon for young adult selkies, and found she preferred dating men. Occasionally, she’d meet someone she was interested in but would later be turned down due to her latent super strength. Somewhat dismayed by this, she would hold off telling them as long as she could.

Her boutique obviously didn’t open right away, and she had to work a few internships with local fashionistas that were somewhat soul-sucking yet illuminating. On top of that, she did clerical work to be able to move out of her parents’ houseboat and gain experience.

Finally, in 2022, she was able to move into a small loft with a space for a shop beneath it. Neasa named her new business The Clothes Seal, a pun on the phrase clothes horse. Ever since, she’s been hard at work promoting her business and gaining clients.

However, now that the Tree has awakened and enemies have made themselves known, she’ll have to balance her old job with that of collaborating with her siblings and other supes in order to protect Hope.